Author Topic: EP381: Elias, Smith and Jones  (Read 20223 times)

eytanz

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on: February 01, 2013, 08:51:34 PM
EP381: Elias, Smith and Jones

By Mark English

Read by David Robison

---

Every space in the four thousand seat lecture theatre was taken. Additional folk had snuck in to sit on the dark steps at the back. With everyone whispering discretely, the noise was deafening to the grizzled old-timer who stood leaning on the lecturn at the front—or it would have been except for the myPod player earbuds delivering their tinny frantic bluegrass tunes into his head. He chuckled to himself as he looked up at the wall of people in front of him. Political leaders, military leaders, space systems engineers; all desperate to hear the words of an aged ship’s monkey from the Frontier. All because he and his co-conspirators had blackmailed the solar system.

Elias chuckled to himself again. Who would have figured things would have turned out so? He plucked the ear buds out. Instant silence. The university had scored a coup in convincing one of the Sundance gang to tell their tale since any spaceway robbers were generally executed. However the Sundance gang had a thirty year old secret, one that everyone wanted. With the removal of the first earbud old Elias had indicated he was ready to start; all the spectators held their breath.

Elias turned his face up to the watchers, felt the bright lights warming his face, and smiled a toothy grin. “Howdy folks, I’m good an’ pleased to be here today, to see so many notables amongst you. Some I have met before.” A five star general shuffled uncomfortably in his seat as if the warm smile made him sweat—which it did. Elias continued in his soft southern-states patois. “We are gathered here today to hear a story, so let’s go back thirty years, back to when I was even more good lookin’. My partners and I had just obtained a large cargo of rare earth metals from an asteroid cargo waggon, and this had been mistak’n for a robbery. I guess after these years I gotta ‘fess up and say that it sure as hell was a robbery!” Elias leaned forward and grinned at the Sheriff-Admiral in the front row like he was about to lay a golden egg—which as history showed he had (in a manner of speaking). The Sheriff-Admiral returned a tight grimace filled with thirty years of difficult restraint.


Listen to this week’s Escape Pod!



Listener

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Reply #1 on: February 02, 2013, 12:59:02 AM
This was an excellently-performed story that was only mildly interesting, unfortunately. I didn't identify with Elias, and his stroke of genius, while cool, didn't work for me as the linchpin of the story.

Actually, when he was cleaning the bilges, I thought there was going to be a poop reference, not that it was going to be music-and-waveform-shape-based. And those who know me know that I love me some poop references.

Also, even though the story went through great pains to explain WHY tossing stuff out of the ship would make them go faster, it just didn't seem right to me. It was -- intentionally -- a space western. Thing is, some of the parts of westerns have to be tossed out of the writing process. In my opinion, this should have been one of them.

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Dem

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Reply #2 on: February 03, 2013, 01:49:27 PM
I agree: well-performed but, to me, a weak plot built around the jokey Sundance reference and some hick music on a 'MyPod'. I can't help thinking it would have been much stronger without that undertow dragging it towards the groan zone.

Science is what you do when the funding panel thinks you know what you're doing. Fiction is the same only without the funding.


Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #3 on: February 03, 2013, 02:46:40 PM
Chiming in with the "excellent performance, weak story" crowd.
Also, I am very tempted to check the math on "hitting a pea-sized piece of dust at these speeds (1/8 c) is equivalent to an atomic bomb."</paraphrasing>
And I'm not sure that space dust comes as large as peas. I think "space dust" is the occasional stray hydrogen molecule and maybe microscopic comet fragments if you happen to be in the planetary plane.
But I'm no rocket scientist. ;P

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Thunderscreech

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Reply #4 on: February 03, 2013, 06:59:29 PM
I was confused at how they could see the patrol cutter with their bare eyes when it was half a solar system away.  Did I misunderstand how that played out?



Corcoran

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Reply #5 on: February 03, 2013, 08:33:51 PM
Nice read, story a little weak.

The Funny part was a mishearing on my part : the word "Pea-sized".
I heard PI-Sized and started wondering. Pi, that was 3,14...something what is this supposed to mean, Pi has no size, it is just a Number, strange, did he say Pee, that makes even less sense, had to look for a word that made sense and found Pea !



Thunderscreech

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Reply #6 on: February 03, 2013, 09:54:46 PM
If your pee are square, Corcoran, consult a doctor immediately.



Scumpup

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Reply #7 on: February 04, 2013, 09:33:57 PM
The title scans cleverly to those of us old enough to remember a certain TV western of the early 70's.  Otherwise, I wasn't entertained by this story.  The outro was all about Firefly (a show I've never seen and the descriptions of which don't make me want to see) and things_including this story_that are more-or-less Fireflyesque.  Maybe the story would have had greater appeal to me if I were a Firefly fan.



matweller

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Reply #8 on: February 04, 2013, 09:46:07 PM
Or a space western fan.

FACT: Galaxy Rangers ruled.



Scumpup

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Reply #9 on: February 04, 2013, 10:18:04 PM
I wouldn't say that I'm not a fan of space westerns, as such.  Alasdair's outro mentioned the Fallout games, for example, and I am a dirty, dirty Fallout whore. I love all of them, but I love (wait for it) New Vegas most of all.  Further, much of the science fiction that I read as a kid (and am still reading today) was stuff from the pulp era that was essentially cowboys and indians where all the author did was change the cowboys to spacemen and the indians to aliens.
My impression of Firefly, from listening to fans of the show go on_at length_ about it, is that it isn't really a space western.  It's more of a space spaghetti western with a generous layer of Joss Whedon snark slathered on top.  First, I do love me some spaghetti westerns and I've watched about a million of them.  There are Roku channels with scads of them, did you know that?  But only the Italians know how to do them right.  American attempts to capture that sensibility, even with Clint Eastwood personally involved, just don't get it right.  Secondly, and I know that in many places this would get me burned at the stake as a heretic, I don't like Whedon's dialog.  I know it's supposed to be all cool and snarky.  it comes off to me as all smart alecky and irritating, instead.  (Cue Crassus) This is, once again, simply a matter of taste, not appetite.  In this case, I don't happen to like the oysters, though the snails are good.  If you enjoy both, well and good.



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Reply #10 on: February 05, 2013, 12:17:17 AM
I thought this story was decent, I enjoyed it.  What I didn't like was the telling from the point of view of Elias, and his place in the story.  I'm not sure if I didn't buy his character, or just didn't like him.  What I did like was the intimate setting of a small space vessel with just the right about of technology explanation that didn't get in the way of the story.  I thought that part of it was balanced well, and it's something that bugs me a lot when not done right.

On another note, what about this story really makes it "space western"?  I can maybe see the fact that they were doing a "robbery" maybe vaguely associative of western, but that seems thin.  There's no planet side frontier element, they're just space criminals turned space business people.  Elias' personality has a bit of a western feel because he's southern, but that doesn't count.  What makes it space western to those of you who consider it that?



Scumpup

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Reply #11 on: February 05, 2013, 01:46:56 AM
On another note, what about this story really makes it "space western"?  I can maybe see the fact that they were doing a "robbery" maybe vaguely associative of western, but that seems thin.  There's no planet side frontier element, they're just space criminals turned space business people.  Elias' personality has a bit of a western feel because he's southern, but that doesn't count.  What makes it space western to those of you who consider it that?

For my part, it was strictly the outro that caused me to discuss it as a space western.  Without that, it's just a story about some thieves in space who managed, after a fashion, to turn legit.



chemistryguy

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Reply #12 on: February 05, 2013, 11:42:38 AM
I enjoyed this in spite of, or perhaps because of, the pure ridiculous factor.  I can't for the life of me picture "grabbing" onto nearby dimensions as a means of propulsion.  Nor did I buy the idea that no one else was able to find a way to increase the efficiency of the M-space engine decades after its inception.  I also kept wondering when humanity would surrender this fruitless path and concentrate on perfecting the infinite improbability drive.

Actually, when he was cleaning the bilges, I thought there was going to be a poop reference, not that it was going to be music-and-waveform-shape-based. And those who know me know that I love me some poop references.

I can appreciate a poop reference as well.  I did not anticipate any, but had the story finished with a fart and not heavy metal bluegrass, I would have applauded. 

Still...I think I need to see if this music genre really exists.


Unblinking

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Reply #13 on: February 05, 2013, 03:31:33 PM
Well performed, but the story itself didn't have a lot going for it.  I didn't really care about the characters.  I thought he was going to build an interstellar superengine out of a spacetoilet and was kind of disappointed when it was his myPod.

Secondly, and I know that in many places this would get me burned at the stake as a heretic, I don't like Whedon's dialog.  I know it's supposed to be all cool and snarky.  it comes off to me as all smart alecky and irritating, instead. 

That's my reaction to Buffy.  But I love Firefly.

On another note, what about this story really makes it "space western"?  I can maybe see the fact that they were doing a "robbery" maybe vaguely associative of western, but that seems thin.  There's no planet side frontier element, they're just space criminals turned space business people.  Elias' personality has a bit of a western feel because he's southern, but that doesn't count.  What makes it space western to those of you who consider it that?

Space western had not even crossed my mind until the outro.  Thinking back, I still don't see where that came from.  And it's certainly no Firefly (but then again, what is?).



timprov

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Reply #14 on: February 05, 2013, 09:05:43 PM
Wow, a lot more hate for this story than I would have thought.  Wonder if my brainwaves work on the same level as you guys since it seems you love the stories I don't like and don't like the stories I loved.  I loved this story.  I love it when a story takes you down a path of discovery and, once the twist is revealed, you realize the twist was with you the entire time. Sometimes I feel cheated with the twist, not this time.  I found myself smiling and laughing when he left the iPo - I mean MyPod, on the stand for everyone to gab at. 

I loved Firefly but I have to admit I find the uberlove a bit baffling.  Yes, it was a good show, yes I enjoyed it and the movie, but no I don't understand the following for a good show that lasted only 13(?) episodes.   

Again, wondering if I'm on the same wavelength as everyone else.

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Cutter McKay

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Reply #15 on: February 06, 2013, 12:28:29 AM
Well, for no other reason than because I like to comment, I'm going to chime in with more of the same. I loved the reading of this story, the echo of the mic in the theater, Elias' southern accent, all of it was very entertaining to me. However, I, too was left with a kind of... meh, feeling at the end. I found the "myPod" device fairly unoriginal. Yes, they will still have personal music devices in the future, but come up with an original brand name.

No, I didn't see this as a space western. Elias' accent does nudge it that direction (I kept picturing Foghorn Leghorn with a scruffy beard), but that's it. To me this was just a space pirate adventure. And I do love space pirates, but the ending on this one just felt a little flat.

To chime in on other conversations, I love Firefly, though not enough to dress up for a convention or anything. Also, like scumpup, I am a Fallout Whore, having played every iteration. The newer games, Fallout 3 and New Vegas were fantastic for blending the FPS and RPG formats, though my love will always be for the original isometric classic RPG. The options in that game were nearly endless and I loved every replayed minute of it.

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tpi

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Reply #16 on: February 07, 2013, 07:45:46 AM
Chiming in with the "excellent performance, weak story" crowd.
Also, I am very tempted to check the math on "hitting a pea-sized piece of dust at these speeds (1/8 c) is equivalent to an atomic bomb."</paraphrasing>

For some reason I didn't get into the story and my thoughts wandered widely for most part of the duration.
But: if I didn't drop a zero at some point, a piece of "dust" weighting one gram at 1/8 of light speed has kinetic energy equivalent of 162 kg of TNT. Not atomic bomb scale, but something you really wouldn't want to hit your spaceship.


Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #17 on: February 07, 2013, 08:20:01 AM
Chiming in with the "excellent performance, weak story" crowd.
Also, I am very tempted to check the math on "hitting a pea-sized piece of dust at these speeds (1/8 c) is equivalent to an atomic bomb."</paraphrasing>

For some reason I didn't get into the story and my thoughts wandered widely for most part of the duration.
But: if I didn't drop a zero at some point, a piece of "dust" weighting one gram at 1/8 of light speed has kinetic energy equivalent of 162 kg of TNT. Not atomic bomb scale, but something you really wouldn't want to hit your spaceship.
On that matter... I weighed a whole bunch of dried peas (because that's what you'd find in space, water doesn't do well in a vacuum) and it takes about 10 peas to weigh an entire gram.
So your 162 kg of TNT just became 16.2 kg of of trinitrotoluene . With proper hull materials and construction should be OK. Already today we build armored vehicles that can withstand worse than that.

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chemistryguy

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Reply #18 on: February 07, 2013, 11:36:52 AM
Chiming in with the "excellent performance, weak story" crowd.
Also, I am very tempted to check the math on "hitting a pea-sized piece of dust at these speeds (1/8 c) is equivalent to an atomic bomb."</paraphrasing>

For some reason I didn't get into the story and my thoughts wandered widely for most part of the duration.
But: if I didn't drop a zero at some point, a piece of "dust" weighting one gram at 1/8 of light speed has kinetic energy equivalent of 162 kg of TNT. Not atomic bomb scale, but something you really wouldn't want to hit your spaceship.
On that matter... I weighed a whole bunch of dried peas (because that's what you'd find in space, water doesn't do well in a vacuum) and it takes about 10 peas to weigh an entire gram.
So your 162 kg of TNT just became 16.2 kg of of trinitrotoluene . With proper hull materials and construction should be OK. Already today we build armored vehicles that can withstand worse than that.

What you're not taking into account is that frequency generated by hardcore bluegrass, though beneficial to space travel, will weaken the structural stability of said spacecraft.  It would take about 2 dried peas to reduce the spaceship to space dust.


Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #19 on: February 07, 2013, 12:29:53 PM
Chiming in with the "excellent performance, weak story" crowd.
Also, I am very tempted to check the math on "hitting a pea-sized piece of dust at these speeds (1/8 c) is equivalent to an atomic bomb."</paraphrasing>

For some reason I didn't get into the story and my thoughts wandered widely for most part of the duration.
But: if I didn't drop a zero at some point, a piece of "dust" weighting one gram at 1/8 of light speed has kinetic energy equivalent of 162 kg of TNT. Not atomic bomb scale, but something you really wouldn't want to hit your spaceship.
On that matter... I weighed a whole bunch of dried peas (because that's what you'd find in space, water doesn't do well in a vacuum) and it takes about 10 peas to weigh an entire gram.
So your 162 kg of TNT just became 16.2 kg of of trinitrotoluene . With proper hull materials and construction should be OK. Already today we build armored vehicles that can withstand worse than that.
What you're not taking into account is that frequency generated by hardcore bluegrass, though beneficial to space travel, will weaken the structural stability of said spacecraft.  It would take about 2 dried peas to reduce the spaceship to space dust.
But they were worried about pea-dust before their magi-tech drive was being powered by hardcore bluegrass.

However, doing a quick-reread it turns out they were worried about pea-sized rocks, not dust.
Assuming a spherical pea with a diameter of 5 mm, we have a volume of about 65.5 cubic millimeters. I'm stuck here because I don't know what space rocks should mass.

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Scumpup

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Reply #20 on: February 07, 2013, 02:41:56 PM
It would depend on whether the space rock was rocky or metallic.

Nickel-Iron meteorites have a density of between 7 and 8 grams per cubic centimeter.
Chondrites are in the 3 to 3.7 grams per cubic centimeter range.

Seems that a metallic space rock would be substantially more destructive.



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Reply #21 on: February 07, 2013, 02:43:33 PM
At relativistic speeds, I don't think it matters much what the rock is made of.



Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #22 on: February 07, 2013, 02:47:19 PM
At relativistic speeds, I don't think it matters much what the rock is made of.
It kinda does. Since we are talking about 1/8 c, that's not exactly relativistic speeds. We can still use the equations from Newtonian physics to find out what would happen in such a collision. Since all we are trying to find out is the energy released in such a collision, the equations are fairly simple.

It would depend on whether the space rock was rocky or metallic.

Nickel-Iron meteorites have a density of between 7 and 8 grams per cubic centimeter.
Chondrites are in the 3 to 3.7 grams per cubic centimeter range.

Seems that a metallic space rock would be substantially more destructive.
I think that since every piece of extraterrestrial rock that has been studied has been found to be more or less analogous to terrestrial rock, we can probably extrapolate from there.
Since space rock is more likely to be "volcanic" in nature (i.e. not sedimentary rock) we can probably use basalt as a starting point.
Who knows what 65 cubic mm of basalt masses?

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Scumpup

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Reply #23 on: February 07, 2013, 03:09:22 PM
The earth science text I used when I taught that subject gave basalt a density of 3 grams per cubic centimenter.  65 cubic mm is 0.065 cubic cm.  If I did the math right, that would give your rock a mass of 0.195 grams.



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Reply #24 on: February 07, 2013, 03:56:41 PM
I admit the story was a little thin, but I was thoroughly entertained. For me, it was more about the telling than the story. I enjoyed it, which is why I listen to Escape Pod - to have fun. I also like how for 30 years Elias kept a big secret that amounted to nothing more than a small tweak the M Drive.

As for the Firefly stuff, I didn't think of this as a space western. Firefly didn't cross my mind until the outro, and then I was trying to figure out why he went on and on about it. This story had no relation to Firefly, in my opinion. It was more like cops and robbers - a high speed chase in space, but less exciting.



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Reply #25 on: February 07, 2013, 04:31:31 PM
He has a name, and he also has reasons for why the outro was built like it was.

Hello everyone:)

I talked about Firefly for three reasons; firstly the story, the
Bluegrass stylings in particular,  put me in mind of a western. Specifically the sort of stagecoach chase/robbery scene that seems to be in a lot of them.

Secondly, the author mentioned that there was an element of the space western to the piece, and that some of the world building for the story reflected that.

Thirdly, my other jobs have taken me up against what I view as the stigmata of fandom; the initial cancellation of Doctor Who in the UK and the cancellation of Firefly in the US. As the story put me
In mind of that, it was a logical conclusion for me to not only talk about it, but also exits the space western sub genre and try and offer a few other recommendactions for people still suffering withdrawal. 




Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #26 on: February 07, 2013, 04:40:47 PM
The earth science text I used when I taught that subject gave basalt a density of 3 grams per cubic centimenter.  65 cubic mm is 0.065 cubic cm.  If I did the math right, that would give your rock a mass of 0.195 grams.
OK, so going back to our 1 gram=162 kg TNT, we have 0.195X162=31.59 kg of TNT. A lot of energy, but not atomic bomb levels, nor fatal to a properly constructed star ship.

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matweller

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Reply #27 on: February 07, 2013, 07:57:41 PM
...but aren't we already suffering micropunctures with catastrophic potential with our current vehicles in space that are just turtle-ing along in comparison? I'll fully admit to being a physics ignoramus, but F=MA would logically seem to make even the lightest of peas radically powerful when the 'A' is the speed of the craft plus the speed of the pea in question.

I will accept only counter arguments formatted as limericks.



Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #28 on: February 07, 2013, 09:01:55 PM
The equation is all about balance
and you can tell just by a glance
at one eighth C
the speed of the pea
is dealt with by looking askance.

The dangerous space-borne debris
that orbits around planet 3
masses hundreds times more
than our small pea of yore
and so we have much less of E.
« Last Edit: February 07, 2013, 09:06:44 PM by Max e^{i pi} »

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matweller

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Reply #29 on: February 07, 2013, 10:11:02 PM
First of all, I love you.

Second, I thought I had heard/read something about micrometeors smaller than peas but with enough speed to pierce the shuttle being a big concern for NASA. Or I suppose I may just be remembering the initial seconds of the meteor shower in Armageddon (no commentary accepted on the topic of the movie, sometimes you just love without criticizing).



Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #30 on: February 08, 2013, 11:42:56 AM
Whether that is an actual fact or a Bruce Willis inspired assumption, it doesn't matter.
The original question was whether an impact at 1/8 C with a pea-sized fragment of space rock would result in the equivalent energy release of an atomic bomb. The answer is most definitely not.
Will such a collision do damage to the ship? Most likely yes. A lot less energy will be released, but it will all be focused on a relatively small (pea-sized) section of the outer hull. Depending on the material and construction techniques involved, it may very well pierce the hull.

Also, thank you for not demanding that
the counter arguments be written in
iambic pentameter. I suck at that.
 :P

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matweller

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Reply #31 on: February 08, 2013, 01:26:53 PM
You're right, I wasn't paying attention to the force part of it, more the catastrophic nature. In the end, if I'm on the ship, I want the shield and I want it working as well as possible.

Unless they find out ke$ha was the only music that will make it work and it somehow resonates through the hull as you go. Could you imagine travel day 3 of that music catalog playing ceaselessly? Bring on the peas!



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Reply #32 on: February 10, 2013, 07:27:43 AM
Oh, I am loving this discussion and am sorry I came so late to the party.

Max e^{i pi} says
Will such a collision do damage to the ship? Most likely yes. A lot less energy will be released, but it will all be focused on a relatively small (pea-sized) section of the outer hull. Depending on the material and construction techniques involved, it may very well pierce the hull.

When dealing with hypervelocities (this is defined as anything faster than about 2 km/s, or roughly 4500 miles per hour), collisions behave very differently than what we are used to in every day life experiences. Below is a picture of one such impact, where a 12mm (~0.5 inch) aluminum ball hit an 18 cm (~7 inch) aluminum plate at 7 km/s.

As you can see, the resulting crater is much bigger than the ball that created it. (Note, this is not the original ball that formed this crater. That ball would have been vapourized by the impact. This is a different, same-sized ball, shown here for comparison.) Also, the effects of the collision are not confined to the crater. Notice how the back of the plate has separated from the rest of the plate, even though the area between the crater and delaminated part *looks* untouched. This is showing that there's a lot more damage happening than what can be seen. 

So, hypervelocity impacts are great fun and very destructive! I wouldn't want to be on a space ship that was hit by one, even if the projectile was only pea-sized.

However, as Max e^{i pi} alludes, construction techniques can make a big difference. Making the ship's skin from multiple layers does help (see below).


Anyway, I hope some have found this interesting. I study impacts for a living (but on planets, not spacecraft), so this stuff is always interesting to me.
</geek mode>




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Reply #33 on: February 10, 2013, 07:31:14 AM
In my excitement on the topic of high speed impacts, I forgot to comment on the actual story.

Well, I did enjoy it while I was listening, but by the time I got to the outro, I had honestly forgotten what the story was about. That was definitely an indicator that the story was just so-so for me.



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Reply #34 on: February 10, 2013, 07:42:02 AM
I study impacts for a living (but on planets, not spacecraft), so this stuff is always interesting to me.
Coolest. Job. Ever. (for certain definitions of "ever")

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Reply #35 on: February 10, 2013, 07:52:16 AM
Well, if you like, you too can study planetary impact craters (as a volunteer, though, not for a living).

Feel free to check out this project I am involved in called MoonMappers. We have volunteer "citizen-scientists" identifying and marking craters on the Moon for several research projects we have going. It's fairly simple to learn and anyone can do it. Give it a try, if you like....



caladors

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Reply #36 on: February 11, 2013, 02:28:47 PM
Loved the reading, I see I am not alone in that. It made me think of an old grizzly farmer type from north Queensland who seen more drought and suffering than you ever could but some how keeps a smile, I realize his a cheeky space pirate but that's the vision that came to me from the reading.

The story, was really good until the end. I space rock saves the day? I felt as if the object he put down would be more at home in a Wallace and Gromit animation. Anyone for bree? Cause the end was so cheesy. But perhaps it was just because of the amazing set up rather than pay off? Maybe I am just disappointed because I expected more from such a wonderful beginning.



Devoted135

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Reply #37 on: February 11, 2013, 06:07:16 PM
Somehow I managed to listen to two different stories on two different podcasts read by the same person back to back. :P He's got amazing range!

Honestly, I think the narration was my favorite part; he really made the character real for me. I enjoyed the story while it unfolded, and really appreciated the sound effects that were added. They made following the scene changes much easier! But in the end, the "myPod" and the "no one'll ever think of hard rock banjos!"(hee-yuck) sort of ruined it for me. I enjoyed reading the discussion it sparked though. :)



chemistryguy

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Reply #38 on: February 13, 2013, 04:55:21 PM


Anyway, I hope some have found this interesting. I study impacts for a living (but on planets, not spacecraft), so this stuff is always interesting to me.
</geek mode>



NICE!  I have been thusly informed.


Jim Shorts

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Reply #39 on: February 18, 2013, 09:24:13 PM
My opinions on the story, both good and bad, have already been covered plently of times in the other comments, so I have only two things to contribute:

1: Heavy metal bluegrass exists. I have unfortunately heard it played by a band in Florida. They refered to the genre as both "swampy tonk" and "deathgrass." Now that you are aware of this you can't un-know it, and for that I apologize.
I didn't notice anyone achieving relativistic speeds due to pan-dimensional thrusting, but to be fair I was, out of necessity, drinking heavily.

2: Max e^{i pi}'s limerick rebuttal may have been the greatest comment ever.

Okay, three things - 3: Pan-Dimensional Thrusting would be a great title for a flash fiction story! Nathanial Lee, please write it. I will be checking mirrorshards regularly.



Alasdair5000

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Reply #40 on: February 18, 2013, 09:41:08 PM
Pan Dimensional Thrusting is the name of my Tom Jones cover band.



Jim Shorts

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Reply #41 on: February 18, 2013, 10:52:40 PM
Pan Dimensional Thrusting is the name of my Tom Jones cover band.

YES! I would love to open for you sometime with my Bob Marley cover band Deathgrass.



Scattercat

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Reply #42 on: February 19, 2013, 01:45:21 AM
Okay, three things - 3: Pan-Dimensional Thrusting would be a great title for a flash fiction story! Nathanial Lee, please write it. I will be checking mirrorshards regularly.

I've actually got a full-length short story called "Transdimensional Knife Fight."  It's been rejected (checks spreadsheets) 10 times so far!  Whee!  Isn't publishing fun?



Listener

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Reply #43 on: February 19, 2013, 02:28:00 PM
Pan Dimensional Thrusting is the name of my Tom Jones cover band.

Last night I totally dreamed that I was at dinner with my family, someone made a reference like that, and I made a cover band joke. I wish I remember what it was.

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Listener

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Reply #44 on: February 19, 2013, 02:28:18 PM
Okay, three things - 3: Pan-Dimensional Thrusting would be a great title for a flash fiction story! Nathanial Lee, please write it. I will be checking mirrorshards regularly.

I've actually got a full-length short story called "Transdimensional Knife Fight."  It's been rejected (checks spreadsheets) 10 times so far!  Whee!  Isn't publishing fun?

Why does that title sound familiar to me? Have I read it?

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Scattercat

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Reply #45 on: February 19, 2013, 05:02:03 PM
Okay, three things - 3: Pan-Dimensional Thrusting would be a great title for a flash fiction story! Nathanial Lee, please write it. I will be checking mirrorshards regularly.

I've actually got a full-length short story called "Transdimensional Knife Fight."  It's been rejected (checks spreadsheets) 10 times so far!  Whee!  Isn't publishing fun?

Why does that title sound familiar to me? Have I read it?

Probably.  It went up in the Critique Group a while back.

Hey, everyone!  Escape Artists has a writing/critique subforum that is hidden from public view to prevent loss of publication rights for authors posting stories for feedback!  You can join it by sending a request to the forum moderators and maybe revitalize its wheezing, exhausted corpse!  (Wait, that's more Pseudopodian, isn't it?)



Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #46 on: February 19, 2013, 07:16:46 PM
Okay, three things - 3: Pan-Dimensional Thrusting would be a great title for a flash fiction story! Nathanial Lee, please write it. I will be checking mirrorshards regularly.

I've actually got a full-length short story called "Transdimensional Knife Fight."  It's been rejected (checks spreadsheets) 10 times so far!  Whee!  Isn't publishing fun?

Why does that title sound familiar to me? Have I read it?

Probably.  It went up in the Critique Group a while back.

Hey, everyone!  Escape Artists has a writing/critique subforum that is hidden from public view to prevent loss of publication rights for authors posting stories for feedback!  You can join it by sending a request to the forum moderators and maybe revitalize its wheezing, exhausted corpse!  (Wait, that's more Pseudopodian, isn't it?)
I already did that. Didn't hear back from the mod though... Maybe I should pick a different mod?

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eytanz

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Reply #47 on: February 19, 2013, 08:07:40 PM

I already did that. Didn't hear back from the mod though... Maybe I should pick a different mod?

Or just post publicly and hope one notices :)

(But please let's not let this take over this thread - if anyone else wants access, PM me).



SF.Fangirl

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Reply #48 on: February 26, 2013, 12:47:20 AM
He has a name, and he also has reasons for why the outro was built like it was.

Hello everyone:)

I talked about Firefly for three reasons; firstly the story, the
Bluegrass stylings in particular,  put me in mind of a western. Specifically the sort of stagecoach chase/robbery scene that seems to be in a lot of them.

Secondly, the author mentioned that there was an element of the space western to the piece, and that some of the world building for the story reflected that.

Thirdly, my other jobs have taken me up against what I view as the stigmata of fandom; the initial cancellation of Doctor Who in the UK and the cancellation of Firefly in the US. As the story put me
In mind of that, it was a logical conclusion for me to not only talk about it, but also exits the space western sub genre and try and offer a few other recommendations for people still suffering withdrawal. 



I'm with you.  This was obviously a space western from the get go.  Elias's "southern patois" (which was well-rendered in audio.)  Elias's ship was referred to as a "wagon".  "Sheriffs" chasing gangs of criminals across the the wide open plains spaces - frontier.  "Sundance."  The call out to the western genre was very strong.

I don't quite share your love of space westerns.  I did end up loving Firefly because it was exceptionally well written series despite the very heavy-handed space western aspects.  The science was pretty awful, and when it comes down to it I prefer my heroes to be the scientist, engineers, and explorers.



SF.Fangirl

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Reply #49 on: February 26, 2013, 01:02:38 AM
Uggg!  I feel like I am getting repetitive with my concrit for EscapePod episodes again.  This story didn't hang entirely on the twist, but I saw it coming from half-way through the story.  A few too many mentions of Elias listening to his Bluegrass and the moment they mentioned again (admittedly I wasn't paying that much attention to the science) that the M thingy sent out a signal, I knew he was going to use his music to replace the signal and mod the engine.  Until his explanation at the end I had no idea how the bilge played into it.

EP has had a recent run of shorter episodes.  Nothing wrong with that since the 35 min range is perfect for my commute, but those often seem to have twist endings and a lot of the twists haven't surprised me like I think they were supposed to.  That's good that it didn't just come out of left field but perhaps too much was given away.

Good world-building, though.  It's either a homage to or rip off of the western genre (depending on your perspective).  I didn'tr eally like the story that much, but the world-building did stick with me enough that I recalled this story I listened to during my morning commute a lot better than the one I just listened  to during my evening commute.



Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #50 on: February 26, 2013, 07:30:49 AM
I did end up loving Firefly because it was exceptionally well written series despite the very heavy-handed space western aspects.  The science was pretty awful, and when it comes down to it I prefer my heroes to be the scientist, engineers, and explorers.
Wait, what? The science in Firefly was pretty awful? Compared to what? Firefly has the best track record for good science in my book. Once you accept a single element that requires the suspension of disbelief, all the science works beautifully.
In the future the Grand Unified Theory of physics was able to include gravity with electromagnetism. Basically they can now control gravity just as easily as we control electric current. We can make magnetic fields, we can make opposing magnetic fields. Same thing with them and gravity. That allows them to walk around on their ships, it allows them to easily take off and land their ships and it allows them to control their inertia to some extent.
Aside from that all the science works. Flying around the system isn't just about drawing straight lines from here to there. It's about thrust, and burn time, and direction, and gravity wells, and being where the planet is going to be when they get there. It's not like Star Wars/Trek where they can just sit there in orbit and fly wherever they want in whatever direction they want and do complex battle maneuvers.
Space is silent. No screaming ion engines, no big booms from explosions. Nothing. All we hear is the radio in the suit and maybe background music.
Supplies are scarce. Some planets have little water, there is very little water on board ship. We see them recycling water, using a very little bit. Mining materials by actually going down into the mines and hacking away at rock. No magical beams that can separate ore from rock and take it aboard your ship in orbit.
Actual doctors do actual medical stuff. They cut people open, give them medicine, perform complex scans that require huge, expensive pieces of equipment. None of this waving pieces of plastic with flashy lights and you're magically cured.
They have guns that shoot projectiles. With recoil. And jams. Missiles that can be aimed, dodged and shot down. A laser beam is a very complex, expensive and impractical weapon. And what the hell is a stun beam?
Is that enough?

Mods, I'm sorry about this. I would have started a new thread in the general science fiction subforum, but I'm too distraught.

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SF.Fangirl

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Reply #51 on: February 27, 2013, 01:30:39 AM
There's an awful lot of human habitual planets in a single system (and most of them look like the American west of the 1800s for some reason.)  Just saying.  Still, great writing, "Out of Gas" has got to be in tops of all television episodes.



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Reply #52 on: February 27, 2013, 03:28:32 AM
There's an awful lot of human habitual planets in a single system (and most of them look like the American west of the 1800s for some reason.)  Just saying.  Still, great writing, "Out of Gas" has got to be in tops of all television episodes.

Canonically, they're actually terraformed moons, IIRC.



Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #53 on: February 27, 2013, 10:45:20 AM
There's an awful lot of human habitual planets in a single system (and most of them look like the American west of the 1800s for some reason.)  Just saying.  Still, great writing, "Out of Gas" has got to be in tops of all television episodes.

Canonically, they're actually terraformed moons, IIRC.
They are. That's why the ark ships decided to stop in this system, lots of moons that could be (relatively) easily terraformed. And if you think about it, it makes sense. They were teraformed by humans, so human-relevant plants would be there, those brought from Eart-That-Was. The Central Planets were the first to be terraformed, and had the most resources and so look nice and green and flourishing. The Border Planets had less resources to start with, and so terraforming was less complete. The result: a parched, arid landscape filled with the few types of flora that would thrive there, ergo, the American west.

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El Barto

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Reply #54 on: March 02, 2013, 03:39:50 AM
I'm a few weeks behind the crowd listening to this one and I see you've already covered most of the fertile discussion ground.

I too really liked this story until the awful letdown of a twist at the end.  (In addition to being disappointed at the concept, it was hard to suspend disbelief and imagine that his MyPod came with an adapter that would work with the engine.)

Also, it would have been nice to know anything about WHY he decided to essentially give the secret away instead of protecting it like the recipe for Coke.  (I made up my own reason, and it's that the news was coming out anyway somehow.)

As for the physics discussion, for a good time, check out NASA's Landing and Impact Research Facility http://gftd.larc.nasa.gov/facilities/landir.html.  I had a chance to visit it when I was test flying a new automation system as part of a NASA research study.  The week I was there they were dropping the new Orion capsule from the gantry which was quite cool.  Here's a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzTQo_4XIGc&feature=youtu.be







Gamercow

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Reply #55 on: March 05, 2013, 02:36:30 PM
I'm very late to the scene, but I did like the story, warts and all.  I did have two sub-threads running in my head during the story however.  

1) The physics of impacts.  I have a paper, somewhere, on hypervelocity impacts in microgravity, and was meaning to look it up after the story, but have not gotten a chance to.  CryptoMe already did the science for us, and has enlightened us all.  I still maintain that interstellar particles will be the biggest hindrance to interstellar travel, even if interstellar space has a mass density of about 1 hydrogen atom/m^3(I think?).  Well, that and fuel.  But with ion drives, perhaps one problem can be used to solve another?  Some sort of magnetic matter scoop feeding the ion drive like some sort of interstellar ram jet?  I don't know.  I spend a lot of time pondering interstellar space travel, and I'm just not smart enough to come up with any answers.

2)As some of you probably realize by now, I'm an accent hunter.  I was trying to figure out where the narrator was from, given the accent he gave to Elias, and I guessed Mississippi.  Looks like with some research, that it's Alabama, so I wasn't too far off. At first I thought that it was a Virginian accent, but that was just because it was soft, and not too twangy.  

Also, how has no one mentioned the "flashback noise" for lack of a better word.  I loved it.  Simple, easy to hear, but did not take you out of the story.
« Last Edit: March 05, 2013, 02:38:10 PM by Gamercow »

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CryptoMe

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Reply #56 on: March 16, 2013, 07:48:17 AM
Big thank you Scattercat for the Moon Mappers shout out on episode 386!



Max e^{i pi}

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Reply #57 on: April 20, 2013, 07:18:50 PM
Well, it turns out we were a little bit mistaken, and the mistake was chiefly mine.
It turns out that 1/8 c is relativistic speeds, and therefore we need to use different equations.
So, thanks to Wolfram Alpha I got the following results:
0.195 g of mass traveling at 0.125 C has 138.55 Giga-Joules of energy. link
1 gram of TNT has 4.184 kilo-Joules of energy. link
Now we get to play with decimal places!
1 kilo-gram (1000 grams) of TNT is therefore 4.184 mega-Joules.
1000 kg (1 ton) of TNT is therefore 4.184 Giga-Joules. (Which I could have found it if i had read the Wikipedia article.)
So, 138.55 GJ is roughly equal to 33 tons of TNT. link
Now, I'm feeling just a bit too lazy to find the yield of the smallest atomic bomb ever used, but here's my reasoning:
The first atomic bombs were much simpler, because everything was simpler "back in the day". So let's have a look at the first atomic bombs.
The Trinity bomb test, the first ever detonation of an atomic device yielded about 18-20 kilo-tons of TNT. That's around 80 TJ (Terra-Joules).
Little Boy, the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, yielded 16 kilo-tons (67 TJ).
So, even though I made an initial mistake (and you all followed me! For shame! (Except for CryptoMe)), the result is the same.
A collision at 1/8 C with a pea-sized rock massing 1/5 g will yield around 138 GJ of energy, equivalent to 33 tons of TNT. Deadly, but still three orders of magnitude less than an atomic bomb.

Thanks go to my father, always ready to find a mistake in my calculations ;), for pointing this out.

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